


The Sacrifices We Make

by twopinkcarnations



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Fluff, Gen, Goodbyes, Heaven & Hell, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-03 19:18:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12754527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twopinkcarnations/pseuds/twopinkcarnations
Summary: Michael and Janet figure out how to get the humans into the Good Place. But the Good Place is no place for a demon.I changed the ending on 11-19-17 to better fit the tone and message I was shooting for. Big thank you to jollythunderstorms for the inspiration to give it another try! :)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Elhani](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elhani/gifts).



**[1]**

"I'm freaking out right now, okay! I'm freaking out!"

Chidi feels like his lungs will collapse if he heaves in air any harder.

"Chidi, it's okay."

Michael lays a hand on his chest and puts his forehead against Chidi's. It was a surefire trick Jason had taught him. He hopes it works this time too.

Chidi exhales once, harshly, but then his breathing slows. All Michael can see in his line of vision is Chidi's big brown eyes. Slowly, they look less and less frightened.

"It's okay," he repeats.

Chidi gives a small smile.

 

**[2]**

"Thank you, Tahani."

It stops her short. She gives him a confused look, complete with her usual adorable pout.

"Did you just thank me, Michael?"

"Did I?"

Even Michael himself seems surprised.

"You most certainly did!" she says with a smile.

"Well, hey, see! I'm learning too."

She takes his hands in hers.

"I'm very proud of you, Michael. That was the first genuine thank you you've ever given."

He feels something tingle in his chest. It's probably just nerves. What else could it be?

 

**[3]**

Lying to Vicky is…complicated.

There is a delicate balance between telling someone you’re torturing humans without requiring some proof that he was following her orders. It’s a matter of out-lying another liar.

“So, what’s the 4-1-1 on those human dirtbags? Oh! That’s a good idea! We could _literally_ fill them with dirt!”

Michael tries to hide a grimace. That was a rather pedestrian idea, and anyway, he didn’t feel like getting that dirty just to keep up a ruse.

“How about I bury them at the beach right before high tide?” he suggests.

Her face lights up.

“Even better,” she says.

 

**[3.5]**

“How did you trick Vicky into giving us a day at the beach?” Eleanor asks.

Jason stops digging.

“Yeah, I was wondering that too.”

Michael upends his bucket of sand and completes the wall to his sandcastle.

“You know how Jason is digging four holes at the shore there?”

They all look to see the fruits of his handy work.

“Michael, what…?” Chidi asks.

“Um, I sort of told her I’d bury you at high tide.”

“Michael!”

“Just for a minute! You won’t _die_. You’re already dead. And then I’ll dig you up and we can eat the picnic food Tahani packed. What do you say, guys? My hands are tied here.”

“Don’t you mean we’re going to be _tide_ here?” Eleanor says, finger gunning the group.

Later, soaking wet and resting on their backs on a checkered picnic blanket, staring up at the stars Janet created just for them, Michael can’t think of a time he’s been happier.

 

**[4]**

Michael spies Jason sitting by himself in the frozen yogurt parlor by himself, so he stops in and orders a scoop of cherry before sitting down with the young man.

“Hi, Jason. Mind if I join you?”

“Oh, hey, Michael.”

Michael frowns.

“You haven’t even touched your chicken wing yogurt.”

Jason shrugs.

“I’m just not hungry.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Michael asks.

“No. Well, okay, but like, you gotta promise to keep this on the DL, okay?”

Michael nods, worried that perhaps Vicky or Gunnar had gotten to him without his knowledge.

“Well, Janet’s never had a birthday before. You know, since she wasn’t born. And I wanna throw her a dope party and get her a gift, but I don’t know what to get for a robot lady who knows everything and can get everything for herself. She’s such a go-getter, and I love her.”

Michael smiles.

“I’ve heard that love is the only thing humans can’t manufacture. That’s all humans want, isn’t it? You should tell her you love her.”

“This is why you’re one of my best friends, homie!”

Jason reaches over the table to hug him before running out of the shop. That thing in his chest comes back again too.

He ignores it.

 

**[5]**

“Janet?”

“Hello! How can I help you, Michael?”

“What can you tell me about sudden, unexplained chest pain in humans?”

“You’re not a human. You shouldn’t be experiencing any pain. Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no, no. I’m, uh. I’m asking because Vicky needs torture ideas, and I thought that would be a good place to start,” he lies.

“Okay!”

She disappears and reappears in the blink of an eye, and she is holding a textbook on cardiovascular functions and diseases in her hands.

“This should help!” she says.

“Thanks, Janet. That’s all I needed.”

He sits down at his desk with the book and opens to page one.

 

**[6]**

“I bet you have the best poker face,” Eleanor says.

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never played it.”

She smirks.

“I’m going to clean you out! We should have poker night!”

Michael loses the first hand. Ties with Chidi on the second. And sweeps the table for the next fifty.

“Poker is fun!” Michael says. “I love it!”

“This game sucks, man. Michael won my Ariana Grande poster in the last pot!”

“Did you agree to play just to torture us?” Tahani asks.

“No, no,” Michael says, and she relaxes. “It was just to hustle you.”

There is a chorus of “no fair” and “that’s forking bullshirt” before Eleanor chimes in.

“Okay, how does everyone feel about double or nothing?”

 

**[7]**

“Gunnar is getting restless,” Vicky says.

Michael sighs.

“I know.”

Vicky’s brows furrow, and she leans forward in her seat.

“You’re not getting attached to them, are you?”

“What do you think?”

She stares at him, assessing his face for any sign of betrayal. He stays perfectly still. She leans back in her chair.

“Good. I’ll arrange something with Gunnar for Friday. Don’t let anything slip. I want to see the look of fresh fear on their faces when he gets them!”

Michael nods.

 

**[8]**

“You trust me, right?” he asks.

Chidi’s left brow goes up.

“Usually. Why?”

Michael hands in his homework.

“No reason.”

 

**[9]**

On Friday, Janet spends all day treating them, bandaging them, and administering painkillers, until Janet pulls him aside and says:

“It would be easier to help them if they were all unconscious.”

Michael, broken out of his stupor, claps his hands twice. Their screams and moans of agony cease. Michael almost expects to hear a pin drop.

“Michael, what—"

“Later,” he says. “Just…Just fix this.”

 

**[10]**

_Coronary artery disease._

_Heart failure._

_Endothelial dysfunction._

_Cardiac arrest._

None of these illnesses seem to explain the feeling he’s been getting lately. And the feeling was only exacerbated by the amount of blood and tissue he’d had to clean and remove from Tahani’s ballroom, which was where Gunnar had decided to strike them down.

He gets to the middle of the textbook that night before calling it quits for the day.

 

**[11]**

The first class Chidi calls to meet after the attack is uncomfortable. He goes to greet Jason, and he flinches away. Tahani won’t look him in the eye, and Eleanor still has a limp.

They all sit on the couch together, crammed in on one side. Michael sits in the chair. Chidi, standing by the chalkboard, looks exhausted.

“I’m sorry,” Michael says. “It wasn’t my idea.”

“So you knew?” Tahani spits.

“I did. There wasn’t anything I—”

“Could do,” Chidi interjects. “Right. I’m guessing no one read this week?”

The humans don’t even bother answering. Chidi sighs.

“Class dismissed.”

Jason snores at the end of the couch.

 

**[12]**

Michael wakes up in bed with a start.

All he can see in his head was the scene he’d walked in on when he’d heard Gunnar had been released on them. It was a massacre of blood and flesh and bone. He’d forgotten what carnage could look like.

And the _wailing_. A sound he’d once enjoyed now made his chest erupt in fire. It was an all-consuming pain.

He remembers screaming for Janet, who at once got to work, no questions asked.

Everything was a blur after that.

He looks down at his hands, surprised not to see them covered in blood. He doesn’t sleep at all the rest of the night.

 

**[13]**

“Do you swear on Janet that that wasn’t your idea?” Eleanor asks.

“Janet?” he says.

“Hello!”

“Janet, come here for a second.”

“Okay!”

Michael puts his hand on her shoulder.

“I swear on Janet that it wasn’t my idea.”

She sighs in relief.

“I was worried that you’d quit on us.”

“No, I couldn’t do that. Not to any of you.”

She looks at him steadily for a moment, evaluating him for any signs of betrayal. Eleanor smiles.

“I believe you.”


	2. Chapter 2

**[14]**

Michael and Janet spend the whole day brainstorming ~~opposite tortures~~  presents to get for the humans to reward their continued support and to reassure them that Gunnar and Vicky's attack was not his idea.

Chidi gets his grandfather’s pocket watch that he lost after show-and-tell day.

Tahani gets a replica of the gown Diana was married in.

Jason gets an arcade bank filled with every game ever invented; even Polybius.

Eleanor gets a mailmen of the month calendar that is filled with every attractive mail carrier who has ever worked for the post office since its inception.

It’s a start.

 

**[15]**

It takes some creative maneuvering, but if anyone can manage it, Janet can.

“We have to try. I owe it to them."

The train releases a gust of steam.

“I’ll do my best, Michael.”

He stands on the platform until he can’t see the train anymore. He smiles.

“You always do,” he says.

 

**[16]**

“Where’s Janet?” Jason asks a few hours later. “I was really craving some hot Cheetos, and she didn’t come.”

“You didn’t murder her, did you?” Chidi asks.

Michael gives him a look.

“No, I didn’t murder her. She’s doing some field work for me, but we’re still in the early stages. I don’t want to get your hopes up.”

“Is she finally bringing Mindy some cocaine?”

Michael rolls his eyes.

 

**[16.5]**

Michael spends that night pacing. And the next. And the next. And the next. Janet was only supposed to be gone for a few days. It had almost been five.

The feeling in his chest, which had dulled in recent days, returns with a vengeance.

 

**[17]**

“Today would’ve been my birthday,” Eleanor says.

“Oooooooh!” Tahani shouts, clapping. “Let me throw you a party!”

“I’ll be in charge of music!” Jason says.

Later, when the party is winding down, Tahani insists on something slower and quieter.

Eleanor approaches Michael.

“You know how to dance, right?”

“A little. Why?”

“Well, this is my first birthday I’ve spent dead, and dancing always makes me feel better.”

He stands and takes her hand to lead her back to the dance floor. She rests her head on his shoulder as they sway.

He doesn’t make any mention of the fact that her snot and tears stain his suit jacket. He can always get a replacement.

 

**[18]**

Janet comes back a week after she left.

“Janet! I was worried sick!”

She grins and doesn’t even mind the long hug he gives her.

“I’ve got good news!” she says. “I spoke to Them!”

Michael’s eyes widen.

“So it’s true,” he breathes.

She nods happily.

“Yes! I told them everything. The humans can go to the Good Place!”

“Just the humans?”

Janet’s excitement fizzles. She looks as sad as he’s ever seen her.

“Michael, I told them all about you, but they—”

“The important thing is that they all will go there together.”

Janet nods.

“Yes, they’ll all be together," he says, patting her hand. “And you’ll be there with them. Where you belong.”

 

**[19]**

_Holt-Oram syndrome._

_Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy._

_Right heart hypoplasia._

_Tricuspid atresia._

Michael closes the textbook. Nothing. Nothing that would explain the anxiety when he was worried, the tightening in his chest when he met with Vicky, the airy feeling he felt when he was happy. There was no explanation for it.

 

**[20]**

“Janet and I have some wonderful news,” Michael says.

“You’re buying me a puppy!?” Jason guesses.

Michael face-palms.


	3. Chapter 3

**[21]**

Janet assures them that all they have to do is get on the train at midnight, and she can take them where they need to go.

“It’s a long trip, but I can get you there!”

Michael helps all the humans aboard, watchful of Vicky and her crew as they race through the dark. When they are all safely inside the car, Janet punches in the coordinates. They hold their breath as the train gears up, barely able to contain their fear and excitement.

Miraculously, the train pulls away without a hitch, and everyone cheers.

Tahani pops open a bottle champagne, and Michael takes the opportunity to pull Janet aside.

“I could kiss you right now, you know,” he says.

She pecks him on the cheek.

 

**[22]**

Though they claimed to want to stay up until they reached the Good Place, one by one, they all fall asleep. Michael and Janet stay awake, sitting next to each other at the back of the car, keeping watch.

Michael looks out the window at the passing scenery, catching glimpses of neighborhoods and constellations here and there.

Janet’s hand finds his, and he squeezes it gently. He turns back to her to ask her something, and he sees that her eyes are shining.

“Janet? Are you crying?”

She blinks and two tears fall.

“Is that what this is?” she asks.

Michael knows the look of wonder on her face will sustain him through any torture Shawn will come up with to punish him.

 

**[23]**

There is a faint pink-orange light up ahead, looking quite like a fabulous dawn on earth, and Janet knows they’re close. The humans make noises as their REM sleep comes to a close, and Janet and Michael know their time together is short.

“I’m going to miss you,” she says.

Michael tries to speak, but the words get stuck. But that was okay. Janet always understood.

 

**[24]**

The humans race off the train like children with Michael and Janet walking more sedately up the pearly steps.

“Is it just me or are these stairs burning your feet too?”

Janet looks down and sees smoke emanating out from Michael’s shoes. Behind them were faint—and miraculously fading—ashy footprints on his side of the steps.

“Michael, I think I know what’s happening.”

She looks him in the eye, willing him to understand without making her say it out loud.

“Oh.”

 

**[25]**

By the time they catch up to the humans, Michael’s legs feel like they’re melting, and he’d swear it was suddenly a thousand degrees.

“So do we just knock, or…?” Eleanor says.

Chidi, Tahani, and Jason try to peak through the bars, but everything is obscured by clouds.

“Oh, there’s a doorbell!” Janet helpfully points out.

“I wanna press it!” Jason crows.

He presses it and nothing happens.

“Maybe no one’s home,” he says.

The front door rumbles open.

 

**[26]**

“Well, if you just follow me,” a voice says, “I’ll be happy to take you to meet the boss.”

“We get to meet God?” Chidi says.

“Oh dear, I’m not dressed properly!” Tahani laments.

“You look amazing! Let’s go!” Eleanor says.

Eleanor turns around with one foot inside the doorway. Her eyes widen when she see smoke and embers rolling off Michael in plumes. It was clear he wasn’t supposed to be here, that his borrowed human body was starting to reject his true form right then and there. He can see the fear in her eyes.

“Go on, Eleanor. Janet’s gonna take care of you, just like always. I promise.”

“No, Michael, I—”

“Have some real ice cream for me once you get in there, okay?”

Like Janet’s glitches, Michael can feel his physical form rejecting the whole situation, but he’d be damned if he didn’t see Eleanor cross the threshold with his own two eyes.

“I promise,” he repeats.

"Goodbye, Michael."

She hesitates a moment more, looking at him as though to commit him to memory, and then she, too, crosses over.

 

**[27]**

Janet hesitates.

“You have to go with them,” Michael says.

“Michael…”

“You programmed the train to go back, right?”

“Of course.”

He smiles.

“Then your work here, my dear Janet, is done.”

 

**[28]**

He gives her a small smile before turning around to make the long, painful walk back to the train when Janet grabs his hand.

“My work may be done here, Michael. But I’m not done helping you. And you’re not done helping humans.”

He squeezes her hand.

“I can’t stay here, Janet.”

“We’ll go back together.”

“I can’t ask you to do that,” he says.

She grins.

“You don’t have to.”

And then he realizes.

That ache in his chest that he’s been feeling for weeks?

It was love.


End file.
